First Word
by Lilac Papillon
Summary: There are some things in life that would be considered far too small and insignificant for Word to waste any time on. His family was not originally intended to be one of those things. One-shot, pre-series, WordxZulay


**First Word**

**A/N: **One day while I was drawing a reference sketch of the woman herself, an idea crossed my mind. And it had to be written. This would definitely be some genre of a sentimental, fluffy one-shot, and was almost sickeningly cute to write, as well as the switch of character POV at one point of the story, however I still think it's sweet and something to expand on. Enjoy!

**Also: **Fudging at Dead!Character's Personality and Character since I lack knowledge of how it is besides official descriptions.

**Disclaimer: **Dragon Booster does not belong to me. If it did, I would totally cover the backstories of the mommies.

* * *

There was a very quiet silence in the citadel that day.

Too quiet, in fact; too much for her tastes. She took a deep breath in, and sighed audibly as she squirmed, head still rested in hand. The elbow was propped up on the armrest of a chair, in which she sat back on properly again, her legs crossed, the tip of her boot twirling absentmindedly. The woman raised her hand up to stare at her fingernails momentarily, then proceeded to stare back out the citadel window, her eyes glazed over with boredom and longing for the outside world.

The woman, around her early twenties, sprouted a short teal, black and maroon cloak over her racing suit; in the center of the jacket a symbol of the Dragon Eye. She had a slender and fit figure, something she was still thankful for after recent occurrences that have tested that. Thankfully, Word seemed to believe that Zulay still had her figure, though Word never noticed much these days.

Zulay rolled her eyes as she observed the people and their dragons roaming the streets outside, sellers setting up gear stalls, and children playing as well. _The day seems ready for opportunity, and yet, I've been enclosed to staying cooped up in here, _she thought disappointedly. Zulay shook her head, a small smile crossing her face. _There's just so many things to do. I mean, not just things I'd do normally in the crew, I'm getting nervous about that lately. I suppose even just a walk outside with my dragon, or Word too, and perhaps with –_

Suddenly, there was a small murmur, followed with an outburst of wailing. The woman looked up, smile diminished. _Moordryd? _Zulay blinked, and fought back a loud groan as she rubbed her eyes and looked over at the crib in the center of the room. She stood up and walked over to it, cracking her neck in the process as she gritted her teeth, grunted, and narrowed her eyes tiredly. _Magna Draconis, so soon? I thought he fell asleep five minutes ago…_

It had been three months and three weeks since Moordryd Drakkus Paynn had been born into the world and added to Word's family and her own. It was truly a blessing, at least, for the first two weeks.

The following days after had deprived Zulay of a healthy amount of sleep, causing her to become more irritable and impatient that usual as the stress of baby-care built up. She found herself snapping at people around her more easily, including Word and at one point Moordryd, which she deeply regretted. Wrinkles began forming far too quickly on her face, and she was glad her hair was already white to prevent hair colour change.

Reaching the crib, she looked inside to see the child's face twisted unhappily as he wailed. She gave another long sigh as she pulled back her sleeves, reached her gloved arms inside to grab Moordryd, and picked him out of the crib before resting him against the side of her body, wincing painfully as he shrieked in her ear. "It's alright, Moordryd, don't cry," she murmured soothingly, patting his back rhythmically and resting her head against the side of his, ignoring his flailing arm smacking against her head. "I'm here for you, even if it makes me go insane."

She made soft hushing noises as she continued to hold him in her embrace. Slowly and gradually, Moordryd's wailing ceased to small sobs, then stopped. His arms stopped flailing, and rested themselves against Zulay's shoulder as he stared at the room around him with wide eyes.

Zulay gave a relieved smile and began to thank the Magna Draconis silently over a dozen times. She gently brushed a finger behind his ear, and her smile grew as he giggled. Despite all the sleepless, stressful nights, the constant changing of diapers, and oh Drakkus help her, the sore breasts from constantly feeding him, she dearly loved Moordryd.

She knew Word himself would say the same, though she wished sometimes he'd show it more often. Although he didn't stress himself over Moordryd as much as she did, Word stressed himself over other things Zulay knew Word considered important. She was beginning to question how important those things were, though, in comparison to their own son.

Zulay walked back to the chair, Moordryd still in her arms, and sat down. She watched as Moordryd placed his hands against the glass as he looked down at Sun City. Zulay smirked in amusement as she placed a hand over the white tufts of hair on his head and watched his face. He had the eyes of his father. Despite both Zulay and Word having both white hair and grey eyes, she could tell by just how they looked, and a feeling.

"Like what you see, Moordryd?" she said as he looked, staring at a dragon helping a little girl stand up from tripping. She watched herself as the girl hugged the dragon's neck in a motion of gratitude, the dragon itself grinning back as the owner himself nodded in approval. "You like dragons, don't you? A lot like your father, actually, but then again I suppose that nanny dragon has had an influence on you too, right?"

Moordryd stared up at Zulay curiously, as though he acknowledged this. "I wonder if you can say it now," Zulay murmured, poking his cheek gently. "Okay, Moordryd, dragon. Can you say 'dragon'?"

He simply gurgled again with a laugh, and Zulay smirked as she raised an eyebrow. "Guess it's hopeless to ask you to say 'mama' then," she murmured, though she raised a finger. "Come on, Moordryd, I know you can do it. 'Dragon'. 'Dra – gon'. Draaaaagoooooon. Come on!"

This time, Moordryd attempted to follow his mother as a simple "da" escaped his lips. "No, no, Moordryd, 'dra', not 'da'," Zulay replied, taking his hands as he sat in her lap. "'Dra - gon'. You can do it! 'Dra – gon!'"

"Da…" Moordryd said again, opening his mouth, only to have another giggle escape as she poked his stomach.

"No, silly, I said 'dragon'. You're smart enough to be able to speak now," Zulay encouraged. "I mean, I didn't scold Abyll for even attempting to speak to you in baby-talk for nothing, and neither did your father."

"Da…" Moordryd mumbled again, holding her hand. He looked up at her again, his eyes sparkling. "Da!"

His mother just laughed again. "I give up," Zulay sighed, leaning back. She shifted her eyes back out the window. "I'll give it a couple more months. Maybe I was too expectant. Most babies don't even talk until a year even."

Moordryd, however, seemed to completely ignore this as flailed his arms and looked at her. "Da!" he said again. "Da!" He gurgled at the last one, before grabbing her hand. "Da!"

She stared at him, smile slowly fading. "What do you want, Moordryd?" she asked, sitting back up. "I already fed you, and you can't say any other syllable besides 'da'."

It was as though her words just made him try harder as he shook her hand. "Da!" he squealed. "Da!"

She shook her head, then paused. "Moordryd, what are you trying to say?" she asked, looking back at him.

"Da!"

"Are you trying to say 'dragon'?"

"Da!"

"Well, then, _what _are you trying to say?"

"Dada!"

Silence. Zulay's eyes widened as she brushed a strand of hair away from her face, staring down at Moordryd incredulously. "'Dada'?" she repeated.

Moordryd shook her hand again, as though to confirm it. "Dada!" he bubbled.

All Zulay could do was blink again. "I…well…" she stuttered. She leaned forward. "When you say 'dada', do you mean 'dragon'?"

"Da."

"…like 'daddy' then?"

"Dada!"

"As in 'father'? As in Word?"

"Dada dada!" Moordryd repeated, smiling as he pulled at her finger.

It was close enough. Zulay immediately grabbed Moordryd and placed him back in his crib, before she ran off, almost tripping, out the room. Moordryd stared curiously out the door as he suddenly heard his father's voice ask, "Zulay? What in the – "

"Word, there you are! You have to come and see this!"

"Zulay, I'm rather busy."

"But Word! Moordryd said his first word!"

"What?"

"He said 'dada', Word! He said father!"

"…what?"

"Dada!"

"Zulay, 'father' and 'dada' are two completely different things."

"No, they're not! Come on, Word, please!"

"Why? 'Dada' isn't even a word. Plus, how do you know Moordryd was not just babbling in baby talk – "

"Just stop it Word, stop it! I _know _for a fact it wasn't just stupid baby talk and you're _really_ scraping my scales not even taking the time to acknowledge your son being able to even speak proper syllables at only three months!"

"But…but Zulay – "

"But nothing!"

And it was then that Moordryd saw Zulay, looking angry and slightly distraught, drag a very confused and slightly annoyed Word into the room. "Zulay, this is completely unnecessary," Word tried to growl, but Zulay dragged him to the crib.

Her angry frown changed into a reassuring smile as she looked at Moordryd. "Now, Moordryd, what did you say earlier?" she asked.

Instead of speaking, Moordryd just stared at her. "Come on, Moordryd, I didn't stop your father from doing his clearly very important things for you not to say anything," Zulay persisted, ignoring a testy glance from Word. "You can do it."

Moordryd just looked back at her, blinking his eyes, then looked past her. Word sighed, looking at her as though it proved his point. "Moordryd, please," Zulay said, her smile turning into desperation. Her hands gripped the edge of the crib tightly, and tears began welling up in her eyes, much to Word's unpleasant surprise. "You said it just now, only three minutes ago! You said it multiple times…"

Word looked away, a hint of guilt crossing his face. Ever since Moordryd's birth, Zulay had been more emotional than ever. He had almost little to no idea how to comfort her during these times, and that in turn just added to arising problems…

Then a miracle happened.

Moordryd looked up at Word, and his arm outstretched towards him, causing Word to turn and look, eyebrow arched in curiosity. Then, Moordryd gurgled, "dada" as he flailed his arms at him. "Dada! Dada!"

Word gave a small gasp as he stepped back in slight shock, his eyes wide. A louder gasp escaped from Zulay, and an astonished smile immediately washed her concern away as tears began to stream down the side of her face, not intended for the purpose they were originally for. "See? I told you he could say it! I told you it wasn't just baby-babble and that he could do it and that's he such a smart boy!" she laughed, and suddenly pulled Word into a tight embrace. "I told you…"

Word placed her arms around her as he stared back at Moordryd, who continued to outstretch his arms. He stepped back from Zulay, who was trying to wipe at her eyes and control herself, and gave a surrendering sigh as he picked Moordryd up. "Well, I guess I _can _acknowledge 'dada'. After all, it is a good start at only three months, and the word is about me," he said, smiling at her reassuringly.

She nodded happily, eyes still watery as she kissed his cheek in gratitude. Moordryd giggled as Word tickled his ear as well. Zulay outstretched her arms, and Word placed him back in her arms. "You can go back to work now," she sniffed.

Instead of nodding and walking out the door, Word grasped her hand. "Well, it's a nice day and I arranged a business meeting with a stall seller who's interested in joining the corporation," he said. He smirked as he narrowed his eyes slyly. "I suppose you know where I'm going with this, seeing as I know you've been bored being kept in here for awhile."

Although Moordryd's first attempt at speech was truly something, Zulay's grin was just as beautiful.

* * *

**End**

Comments and feedback are greatly appreciated. :) Thanks for reading!


End file.
